International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)

ISSN (Online): 2319-7064

Impact Factor (2012): 3.358

Automated Material Handling System Based On the

PLC
Fares Mohmmed Mehdi Hassan1, Asaad Musaab Ali Yousif2
1
Tianjin University of Technology and Education, Auto Maintenance Engineering Education,
Dagu South Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, PRC, 300222, China
2
Tianjin University of Technology and Education, Electronics Engineering Department,
Dagu South Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, PRC, 300222, China

Abstract: This paper is based upon use of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) for the purpose of automated material handling to
pick metallic partsand place it in the box. Currently many researches works have been done on the subject of material handling.
However their approach seems to be more complex and cost higher. This is because they always employ complex logic components which
are expensive. In this research we proposed an automated material handling which is easy to implement and cost effective.

Keywords: PLC, metallic parts, Automation, sensors.

1. Introduction gives not only a good perception of the dynamic

Automation has brought several drastic changes in
manufacturing over the past century. These changes
include increase in overall productivity and profitability of
a manufacturing system. Development of electronics
(transistors and microchips) led to a jump in control
technology and precision of various instruments. This laid
a path for efficient and cost effective manufacturing
processes. Automation of manufacturing systems requires
integration of various fields such as mechanical, control
and electronic systems, and computers .Automation in
various forms constitutes the backbone of most major
industries. It has become a significant part of defense,
medical, aerospace and automotive industries, materials
processing and handling, manufacturing, and consumer
products to meet the increasing demand for the production
volume and product variety.
In the manufacturing industry, automation in material
handling has increased the overall profitability of the
product with an improvement in the quality and
productivity of the system. This is primarily due to two
reasons. First, automation reduces the total production
cycle time, and second, it helps smooth flow of raw
materials and finished products to their desired location
with little or no human interference. [1]
2. Case Study
Here we take up the case of automated material system
where the objective is to place parts inside boxes through a
three axes arm robots.
2.1 Existing System
When a material handling system is to be made
autonomous there is a need for additional sensors and
appropriate control logic to manage the discrete events. It
should be also noted that an autonomous system does not
differ much structurally from the existing system. This
reduces the overall cost for the automation. Even before
the system is built, modelingand simulation of the system
Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014
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Paper ID: SUB14919
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
operations, but also a method to verify the design. An
autonomous material handling system can be modeled as
discrete event system at a certain level of abstraction. For
high speed automation, both gantry and articulated arm
robots are widely used throughout industry. Because of the
many inherent advantages of the gantry robot, it is rapidly
becoming the preferred choice for: [2]
• Palletizing storage and retrieval
• Machine loading parts transfer
• Material handling automated assembly
2.2 Proposed System
The system is used stepper motor, 3ph-motor sensors and
PLC to pick the metallic parts and place it inside box. All
the manual operations are replaced by sending signals
from the PLC to the respective devices. The work of pick
& place metallic a part from various places is
automatically done by a three axisarm robots setup that is
controlled by the PLC.
The EM 253 Position Module is an S7-200 special
function module that generates the pulse trains used for
open-loop control of the speed and position for either
stepper motors or servo motors. It communicates with the
S7-200 over the expansion I/O bus and appears in the I/O
configuration as an intelligent module with eight digital
outputs.
Based upon configuration information that is stored in the
V memory of the S7-200, the Position module generates
the pulse trains required to control movement.
The Position module provides the functionality and
performance that you need for single axis, open-loop
position control:
• High speed control with a range from 12 pulses per
second up to 200,000 pulses per second.
• Absolute position control.
• Relative position control.
1964
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Impact Factor (2012): 3.358
• Manual position control. Table 1:S7-200 CPU Model features [3].
• Continuous operation. Feature CPU 226
Physical size (mm)
190 x 80 x 62
Program memory:

with run mode edit 16384 bytes

without run mode edit 24576 bytes

Data memory
10240 bytes
100 hours
Memory backup
typical
Local on-board I/O
Digital 24 In/16 Out
Analog --
Figure 1: The EM 253 Position Module connected to PLC Expansion modules
7 modules1
over the expansion I/O bus
High-speed counters

3. PLC Hardware Specifications Single phase 6 at 30 kHz

A programmable logic controller is a digital computer Two phase 4 at 20 kHz

used for automation of electromechanical processes. Pulse outputs (DC)
2 at 20 kHz
Industrial PLC describes the computing unit of any
industrial automation system and therefore need to meet Analog adjustments 2
several challenging requirements such as high reliability, Real-time clock Built-in
environmental noise and influence immunity and also Communications ports 2 RS--485
Floating-point math Yes
enhanced protection classes (e.g. water-resistant and dust
Digital I/O image size
sealed). 256 (128 in, 128 out)
Boolean execution speed 0.22 microseconds/instruction
PLCs also satisfy the needs of continuous 24 hours/7 days
operation and availability over a wide environmental
temperature range as well as real-time operation capability Picture
and security and safety enhancements.

The input/output arrangements may be built into a simple

PLC, or the PLC may have external I/O modules attached
to a computer network that plugs into the PLC. The
communications interface is used to receive and transmit
data on communication networks from or to other remote
PLCs. It is concerned with such actions as device
verification, data acquisition, synchronization between
user applications and connection management.
Some of the advantages of using PLC include:
4. PLC-Software Specifications
PLC programs are typically written in a special application
on a personal computer, and then downloaded by a direct-
connection cable or over a network to the PLC. The
program is stored in the PLC either in battery-backed-up
RAM or some other non-volatile flash memory. Often, a
single PLC can be programmed to replace thousands of
relays.

• Programming the PLC is easier than wiring the relay The STEP 7--Micro/WIN programming package provides
control panel. a user-friendly environment to develop, edit, and monitor
• The PLC can be reprogrammed. ConventionalControls the logic needed to control your application [4]. STEP 7--
must be rewired and are often scrapped instead. Micro/WIN provides three program editors for
• PLC takes less floor space then relay control panels. convenience and efficiency in developing the control
• Maintenance of the PLC is easier, and reliability is program for your application. To help you find the
greater. information you need, STEP 7--Micro/WIN provides an
• PLC can be connected to the plant computer systems extensive online help system and a documentation CD that
more easily than relays. contains an electronic version of this manual, application
tips, and other useful information [5].
We have chosen PLC_200 SeriesProgrammable Logic
Controllers with the following features. 5. Basic Design of the System
Major applications of mechatronics include automation,
robotics, sensing and control system, microcontrollers /
PLCs, computer-machine controls and others.
Mechatronics is a design process that includes a
Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014
www.ijsr.net
Paper ID: SUB14919 1965
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Impact Factor (2012): 3.358
combination of mechanical engineering, control
engineering and computer engineering. Basically a
mechatronic system comprises of a basic mechanical
structure (to generate a certain carrying behavior or
movement), sensors (to collect information on the system
or the environment), processors (to evaluate the
information and to generate correcting variables according
to certain rules), and actuators (to convert correcting
variables into forces, movements, electrical voltages or
other quantities which act on the basic system or its
environment).

This Automated material handling system is composed of

an entry/exit bay of metallic parts, a three axis arm robots,
actuators, sensors, drivers and an entry/exit bay of boxes.

Table 2: sensors and the functions

Figure 4: The actuators and their position in the System
No. Type Function
Arm robots detector at zero position
1 Limit switches (picking area)

Top limit switch of the arm robots

2 “ vertical axis

Bottom limit switch of the arm robots

3 “ vertical axis

Photo Part detector at the picking area

4
electronic
Box detector at the placing area
5 “
Proximity Arm robots movement detector
6
sensor
7 “ Magnetic gripper detector

Table 3: actuators and functions

No. Type Function Figure 5: Sample for the box
3ph-motor
1 Parts conveyor table
6. Working
“
2 Boxes conveyor table
When a PLC executes a program, it must know in real-
Stepper time when external devices controlling a process are
Longitudinal axis movement of the arm
3 motor changing. During each operating cycle, the processor reads
robots
all the inputs, takes these values, and energizes or de-
Transversal axis movement of the arm
4 “ energizes the outputs according to the user program. This
robots
Vertical axis descending movement of the
process is known as a program scan cycle.
5 “
arm robots
“ 6.1 Generally
6 Magnetic gripper
Boxes are transported by a conveyor belt from the entry
bay to the conveyor belt that positions the boxes in the
placing area. The parts conveyor belt transports metallic
supplied parts. The three axis arm robot picks the parts
using a magnetic gripper and places them in the previously
positioned box. The loaded boxes are then transported to
the automatic exit conveyor belt for the boxes.

6.2 The boxes

The box is subdivided into 9 cells (part/cell) after the three

axis arm robots picks the part then the PLC sends pluses
out to control the stepper motor move FW/BW for specific
distance according to cells position in the box. The
Figure 2: The sensors position into the system required pluses for stepper motor for this distance it
should be calculated and stored into the PLC memory the
Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014
www.ijsr.net
Paper ID: SUB14919 1966
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Impact Factor (2012): 3.358
program it can call it from the memory directly figure (6) detector and Magnetic gripper detector to active S0.1
shows the box cells and there distances. which guide the robots move to zero position (picking
area) after pick apart then the program will active S0.2
The PLC will send pluses for stepper to move 1st time X1 which allow the robots move to placing area and place the
distance, 2nd X2 distance, 3rd X3 distance, 4th X1&Y1 first part into first cell of the box again the program will
distance, 5th X2&Y1 distance, 6th X3&Y1 distance, 7th active S0.1 to pick the 2nd part and then the S0.3 will be
X1&Y2, 8th X2&Y2 and the last X3&Y2. active to allow the robots place the 2nd part into 2nd cell
The program will repeat same sequence for other parts.

7. Result
After we download the program into the PLC-200 and
finish the connection of the sensors, actuator, drivers,
inverters, power supply converter, encoders, the EM 253
Position Module and then test the system we did some
modification for the ladder after that the system was
working stably figure (8), (9) and (10) show some
connection of the final model of the system.

8. Conclusions
The whole system has good compatibility and compact
structure. It is easy to install, and the line running is stable
in the actual production. The labor intensity is greatly
reduced for workers, so it has a high degree of automation.
On the basis of ensuring the quality, it improves product
efficiency, and brings great economic benefits to the
production side.
Figure 6: The box cells x1, x2 and x3 are the distance
from the part conveyor belt, y1 and y2 the distance from
the first Colum to second Colum and third Colum

6.3 Ladder Flowchart

This ladder flowchart shows how the control program

looks like

Figure 8: Some connection of the final model of the

system

Figure 9: Some connection of the final model of the

system

Figure 7: Shows the ladder flowchart.

In this ladder flowchart there are 7th states S0.0, S0.1, S0.2,
S0.3, S0.4, S0.5 and S0.7. The S0.0 it will be active when
the program start running and then the system will read the
Part detector, Box detector, Arm robots movement

Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014

www.ijsr.net
Paper ID: SUB14919 1967
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY
 International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Impact Factor (2012): 3.358

Figure 10: connection of actuator and drivers of the

system

References
[1] Dasari, Siva Kali Prasad, "Sensor Based PLC
Programming for a Discrete Event Control System.”
Master's Thesis, University ofTennessee, 2003 [1]
[2] Parker Hannifin Corporation Electromechanical
Automation Division Irwin, Pennsylvania [2]
[3] S7-200 Programmable Controller System Manual
Edition 09/2007 A5E00307987—03 [3], [4]
[4] PLC-SCADA Based Automated Logistics Warehouse
Management System V. Ramanan & Sachin. R [5]

Author Profile
Fares Mohmmed Mehdi Hassan he is
bachelor student (last year) in Tianjin
University of Technology and Education, Auto
Maintenance Engineering Education .his area
of interest Microcontroller, PLC and Control system
designing.

Asaad Musaab Ali Yousif he is M.S. student

(last year) in Electronics Engineering Tianjin
University of Technology and Education,
during 2012-2014, he stayed in
Communications signal processing, his area of interest
PLC, Microcontroller, programming and Automation.

Volume 3 Issue 12, December 2014

www.ijsr.net
Paper ID: SUB14919 1968
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY